EKETAHUNA COUNTY

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4332, 16 April 1901, Page 7

EKETAHUNA COUNTY

.V I JUT THROUGH THE NORTHWEST COKNEE. WHAT THE MINISTER AND THE MEMBER SAW AND EXPERIENCED. (Special to the “Vimcs.”) AN INSPECTION BLOCKED. Early in December last the Minister of Lauds, accompanied by some of his ofliccr.s and Mr Hogg, M.H.R., devoted a morning to an of some iof the roads in the County of Eire* tahuna. They visited the proposed sites of a coupl K of bridges, and get along fairly well until they reached the youngest of a family of creameries on the Kakariki road, about a mile from the Huknnui railway station. Several earlyrising “milking machines” stood near their nodding horses and spring carts loaded with well-battered milk cans.

“Well, McOnie, said the member for the district, accosting one of them, “how are Hie roads/” “Just a bit rough, man. Hardly fit for bikes yet,” was tho ready reply. “Any broken-down traps on the way ?” “Yes, there are about hair a dozen on the side ot the road, I think.” “Then it’s hardly fit for our buggy, is it ?”. “No,” was tho reply, “not unless you want *.o smash the springs.” “And how s the road to the Stirling'block?” “Oh, that road! This one’s a causeway, but that s a bog. You’d get,, your buggy buried there.” , The Ministerial party found they had reached tho end cf tho world, as far us roads were concerned. There was nothing for it but to drive hack the road they had come. THE SICK CREAMERY.

Three months elapsed, and tho mom-, her lor tin; district returned to the scene of his previous discomfiture once more to test tho roads. It was still early morning when be approached the creamery. The smell indicated iinprovccd management, and young Mr Billington bad evidently reformed the establishment. But tho milk suppliers who stood by did nod seem particularly hapny. ‘'Weil,” be asked', “bow s the creamcry going ahead? Joined tho Ballance Co-operative.’Association yet?” “No,’ said tho one addressed, -“they won t admit -us. We'ro net putting through enough 'milk.” “What s about joui average, then?” The question was put to the manager. '‘About five hundred gallons a, day.” “Oh, that won’t do. You must double that to employ properly your and plant. “Its our roads that’s doin’ it,” said McOnie. “Look at tho metal; boulders as big as your bead!” "Tho. road to Kakariki s bad, but my road is much worse/’ interposed a line stalwart settler at this stage. “And-which is your road P” “That road alongside the railway lino, through tho native reserve.” “I suppose it’s not metalled yet?” suggested the member. “Well, not exactly,” said Kilsby, for tnat was tho',settler who spoke. “It is metalled in piltehos, but it is very boggy,” and then 'he pointed to a couple of heavy draught horses attached to bis spring curt —horses that on a good road would pull a ton apiece. They carried his milk a journey of three miles. “And what is the weight cf your milk?' asked tho M.H.R. “About scwt,” was the’ reply- “A quarter of a ton! Two strong horses-needed for that!’' exclaimed! the other in astonishment. “Yes, and when it comes a day’s rain, I have to pub a third horse in the shafts,” said Kilsby v Was it surprising that the creamery was languishing, and that the settlers were thinking of handing it over for a time at least to a capitalist? The visitor said he. would test the road to Kakariki, so.he jumped on to Mr McOnie’s milk cart behind “old Tom,” a white horse that has never been known to jib, shy, or "gst‘ stuck. . Away they went at Tom’s regulation pace, for tho old horse laughs the whip to scorn, but only half a mile had been discussed when the member cried, “Hold on, McOnie, I think I’ll jump out.” “Won’t you go to Kakariki?” exclaims McOnie in persuasive accents. “No; I’ve been jolted quite enough/’ was the resolute answer. “I’ll just bid you good /norning.” Bounding over boulders bigger than his head, sliding into wheel ruts two feet deep, rattled over metal of various sizes, tho M.H.R. had undergone a shaking-up process that made every bone in his body feel wearied, and he returned home by the first train very much grieved and unsettled. ANOTHER EFFORT.

A pressing invitation to visit Hukanui a week later failed to move him. It was blowing and raining hard, and the weather made a good apology. But Hukanui hung heavily on his mind. The settlers there—men and women—were people of grit and determination. They had sawn out the timber, built good cottages, rubbed out “Brownstown” over the railway station, in favour of the '■Maori name, and, in spite of bad roads and unbridged rivers, they were sticking to their sections like mariners to a raft. So a few days later, when a letter came from- Mr Joseph Dawson, the wellknown bridge-builder, offering to put a saddle on the oldest, pluckiest and safest ihoosp" in the district, Mastertoh’s member could not resist the invitation. This time he faced the creamery and the roads, mounted on a white chargor, with a whip of supplejack, and tho sun shining porplexingly on his waterproof, with Mr Moran, the road overseer, for a guide, and Dawson and son for an escort. “And ■who is Dawson ?” the reader will ask. Well, Joe Dawson is the man who, about thirty years ago, used to lead tho crew' of radicals that wen nearly all the boat races on the Avon at Christchurch; who secured the sculling championship in Wellington, and was afterwards dinnered at the Empire; w r ho, only a year or two ago beat the fleetfooted Johnny Orr in a flat race, carrying a ten-stone navvy on his shoulders; who erected tho first suspension bridge over the Rangitikei river; and who has built nearly all the river bridges in the Wairarapa and Forty Mile Bush. Mr Dawson, though now a farmer, devotes •a lot of attention to road-making and bridge-building.

EOAD MANAGEMENT. As they navigated their way signs of improvement became visible. Something had galvanised the local authority into action, fer a workman was noticed to be filling up the ruts and breaking the stones, and a man with a horse and dray was dealing with the holes. the Council sees the necessity for those repairs," remarked the member; "I was begining to think it might be desirable ..to introduce the spur contained in the Fublic Health Act and some other recent measures.” “What spur is that?” “Well, it’s just this. Under the provisions of the Public Works Act., if_a local body neglects its duty and ■ fails to erect A keep in repair, or re-erect; a bridge where such a, work is urgently needed, the Government, on the petition of the settlers, can do so. and charge the cost against the Council or Board. Under tlie Health Act the health officer, in a case of municipal negligence, can do all that is necessary to protect the public and prevent disease, and the general taxpayer must pay the piper.” “An excellent provision,’’ was the verdict.

, “Yes, it could hardly do any harm if. Where loads and other works were going to wreck and ruin for want of a little timely labour, the settlers or ratepayers concerned could appeal effectively to one of the State Departments. Interference would probably very rarely be needed, hut neglected roads would become mere rare than wc find them.” IS IT “CUSSEDNESS”?

From the railway line to tho Mangahao river is a distance of between four and five miles; When perfectly made and well rolled with wheels, tho road will be a good one. Except at one place, 'about a mile from the creamery, the grade is a capital one. Opposite the metal pit—a hole big enough to bury a church in—the road rises somewhat suddenly to a higher level, and the grade is about one in ten. As the metal reaches the surface at this 7 point, and some filling had to be made, “Masterton” expressed surprise and regret that a suggestion he had made before the metalling was done—to cut down the crown of the hill —had not been adopted. “Why, Dawson,” ho .said, “if this had been done, yen would have got the metal required by cutting down tho road and making a beautifully easy grade at tho same time What a stupid thing to take the metal out of the pit when it could have been obtained by removing that hump on the road!” “Yes,” was the mournful reply: “I understand it was suggested all right, but the inspector considered the road good enough, and the men had to do as they were ordered,” If this is the case, it is much to be regretted, if not deplored, that obvious, and easy improvements should be disregarded anti the conveniences of those who use the roads totally ignored. • CHEAP AND EXPEDITIOUS ROADMAKING.

A tramway loads down into the huge metal pit, and a little way beyond the metalling by the State ceases and the metalling by the settlers begins. Early in the season a loan pt £6OO was raised under the provisions of the Government Loans to Local Bodies Act, and the borrowers went to work to find outflow the metalling of the road in the Kakarild .spefcial settlement could be most satisfactorily done. Metal was plentiful enough , but labour was going up in price, and horses and drays were hard to procure. Tfi*e male population met, discussed, and consumed many pipes of tobacco over their respective plans. At last they hit upon a method. The sawmillers wanted to get into their sections for timber, and this necessitated a tramway. Why not combine the two things—tramway construction and road-metall-ing? “I’ll do the metalling,” said Mr Cutler, a resident settler, and a man of many ocupations. “And I’ll do the tramway,” said Mr Gardiner, a local sawmiller. Arrangments wore promptly made with the Eketahuna County Council, and the '‘construction” of a road, met-

alled to a depth of seven inches and a width of ten feet,,was quickly commenced. Ditches and drains had to bo ting, culverts made, and cuttings and fillings excavated where necessary, for the-road had been, formed by co-operative labour in the good old days, and it stood as much in need of reformation as an oid criminal. The timber trolleys wore surmounted with box waggons that could be tipped over-with a.side delivery and, thanks to the strong wooden rails, a lior.se could pull the metal for half a chain of road at a time. The work was only started between two and three months ago, and already about three miles of road has been metalled atm cost of 2s 3d per cubic yard, or 31s.'fid per chain. When the contract is qom'pleted qvor five miles cl road will be metalled, over nearly half of which no vehicle has ever travelled. . The road intersects the Rakariki settlement, connecting it via the Maungaraupi road with the Stirling settlement. To connect the roads properly, about a mile of metalling on the Maungaraupi road has to bo done by the Lands and Survey Department, and’ with the concurrence of the overseer this will lju done by the present contractors. If the weather continues good for a few weeks there will thus be six miles of road metalled and, in places, formed in one Reason b,y a small staff of men and horses Under cue firm of contractors —a. feat hitherto unknown in the bush. As a proof of the kind of road that is being Constructed, it may be mentioned that rust a little way ahead of the roadmaki?rs there are at intervals bogs so deep that the inspecting party had to dismount and drag their horses across, with the exception of “Mastertcn,” Alioso old horse seemed quite at homo whoa swimming through mud. i STIRLING BRIDGE.

t Tho sun had set when the party reached the Mangatainoka river, crossing it .1t a ford where a bridge designed by Mr <JJ. .W. Hursthouse, of tho Lands and Survey Department, is about to ho erected. They proceeded on tho road 1 towards Nireaha and Newman as far as Messrs Roy and Albertson’s mill. Some v(ery fine totara had been cut readv fpr tho bridge, but the millers would undertake no further orders. There are a number of bridges to be built in the districts but apparently there will be a good deal of difficulty about the timber. Totara of the 'size and length required is hardly obtainable. It is alleged that very good work might bo done if totara stringers were employed and t|ie remainder of the bridges built of of rimu. The. price of the latter ii not much more than half tho cost of totara. Tho piles now used arc Australian ironbark, and owing to the scarcifv of good timber it is not at all improbable that kauri from Auckland may have to bo employed for bridge-building. 1 MOONLIGHT INCIDENTS.

| Retracing their stops by moonlight, t(ie party had tea with Mr James Pago, kiiown in Lyttelton, Masterton and elsewhere as the initiator of asphalt footpaths. Mr Page is the occupier of a two-hundred acre section, half of which is cleared and in grass and contains a well-constructed family resilience of weatherboards and iron. Xear it is the fpwlhouse—the hollow trunk of a tree. Mr Page’s water supply is a ueverfailirig stream; he has an abundance of firewood, and plenty of milk, and although he is a Crown tenant he has had the temerity to “sack’’ the Government for reducing his wages. Thereby hangs a gtood story. “Como and see the tree that my wife felled last week,” he said. Then ho led us to where a huge rata covered about an acre of land. The tlco was too near the house, and it was I nfecessary to bring it down. “Mrs Page didn’t use the axe,’’. lie explained, “she brought it down with a firestick.” A niagnificent rata it was. There lay the fcjrest giant, with twisted vines, each as large as a horse’s bedv, a huge vegetable edtopus, containing- firewood enough te last a family for years. We mounted with difficulty the barrel of the tree, a! score of feet away from the trunk, and found ourselves about twelve feet above the surface. Those who'hove seen it—some of them experienced bushmen —Tronounce it the largest rata they have yp-t witnessed. A lit tie fur thetr-along the road,we met Mf'Daldy. a neighbouring settler, returning: from Pa-hiatuS, with a morse and dray, loaded with stores and furniture, including a settler’s wife. We advised the latter to dismount before the vehicle became bogged, and our advice was not in vain, for Mr Dalby had to dig the wheels out a little later on. jMr Hogg, M.H.K., returned to Masterton with the impression that, thank; v td the indomitable energy of the Crown

. t,.tenants, the new settlements, like Stirling and Kakariki, are'-getting out of the mud, and if the State will only give them a very-little-timely aid their creameries and 'factories; from being sickly, will soon be as robust and prosperous as the dairy factories in the older districts. He found a splendid lot of settlers, men and women, full to the brim of courage, trampling their difficulties underfoot. -